I Don't Hate You
by Cloud Watcher332
Summary: After a fight with the Box Ghost, Valerie comes to terms with many things...


**pretend that the episode "The Ultimate Enemy" came after "Flirting with Disaster", ok?**

**--**

Valerie watched as he came closer, her thoughts have a scream-for-all in her head; if she wasn't utterly crushed afterwords, she would have the world's greatest migraine. "Hey Danny..."

"Hey Val." If he only knew how her she would melt inside at his care-free nickname, his innocent smile. Valerie blushed slightly, finding it hard to gaze openly into his sky blue eyes-they were so bright and alive, it was like starting into the sun, only better. "Listen, I-"

Here it was, the moment that made the girl yell into her pillow, be fearful of the future: the moment where she denied her innermost feelings for the boy, and send him packing. But it was for his own good; he simply wasn't safe, with all the ghosts around. They'd attack him, hurt him to get to her, and she'd be a damned fool before that would ever come to pass. But before she could say the words that tasted like lye to her tongue, a rumbling could be heard in the distance, birds taking flight. "Sorry, I gotta go!"

Ducking behind a forgotten tree, her new-and-improved battle suit swirled about in a red mist and materialized around her body, and Valerie felt a bittersweet comfort at the familiar feeling of metal to flesh. Whatever ghost that put her city, her friends, and _her_ Danny in danger was going to get the whooping of its life...and only proved that her love was to never be. Her air board opened up under her feet, and she sped off towards the disturbance, hoping to the high heavens that this would end well.

"...you've GOT to be kidding me." She smacked her visor-encased forehead, resisting the urge to just go back to the school and pretend that this mess never happened. The Box Ghost was on the attack-and she used that term loosely, throwing cardboard boxes at the running pedestrians. Granted, they had reason to fear (after all, a ghost is a ghost, no matter what), but she couldn't help but smirk; target practice. "Give it up, ghost, and I'll go easy on ya."

"NEVER!!" Figures. The blue-toned man was now in rant-mode, telling the huntress to 'BEWARE!' and that he is 'THE BOX GHOST!', among other meaningless things. "Fear me, for I have a new weapon!!"

"And that is...?" Valerie felt her temper rise and patience fall very, very low: the ghost kid, Danny Phantom, bane of her very existence, was floating opposite her, his expression the same hers was before he decided to foul the air. He was the reason why her life was turned upside down and thrown against a wall, but without him, she never would've figured out how shallow her friends were, and what a great guy Danny was. Regardless, if she and Danny were meant to be-and they were in her opinion, so that's that-he had to go. "What now, Box Ghost?"

"BEWARE!!" Much to their surprise, the ghost summoned magenta-colored cubes in his hand, and after sparing Valerie a weary glance, chucked them at Phantom, too shocked to dodge. A blast of energy rocked his world, and he came crashing down, making a rather nice crater in the already cracked pavement.

Valerie cast the boy a wavering glare, then focused on the current threat: the Box Ghost, currently gloating over his short-term victory. "Eat this, spook!" And just like that he went flying, back burned by her energy blast. He soared back up, probably to escape while he still could, but not before throwing down a medley of cube-bombs. Valerie easily got out of their range....but that only led them to rain down on Phantom, just barely outside of his crater.

The explosion was spectacular. His agonized yell had joined the free-for-all still going on in the African American's head, and even though he had ruined her life, destroyed the sense of stability that came with living in a decently built home, it made her cringe. She came down to earth, peered down into the crater...and watched as the white-haired, green-eyed ghost with a knack for witty banter transformed...into the boy she had deep seated affection for, via two rings of light.

Oh, that migraine was going to be _big_.

* * *

At the moment Valerie was in the most secluded part of the park, venting out her inner turmoil with a loud-mouthed rant to a certain boy lying unconscious on the floor. Danny Fenton...was Danny Phantom, two completely different halves to an apparent whole. "How DARE he lie to me!! He...I...what in the world happened here??"

Oh yes, in terms of conflicting emotions, she was a Picasso painting on steroids. Hatred, affection, confusion, sadness, empathy, horror, disgust at both he and herself, even more confusion, and at the very back, a little voice nodding to it all, chanting 'I knew it, I knew it all along!'

Behind that initial shock, it made a lot of sense. A lot. After all, they could've been twins in terms of looks, he always appeared when he was out of sight, and for crying out loud, their names were so similar that Valerie felt downright stupid not noticing it before. But how could you blame her? Something like this was too weird, even for the son of ghost-hunters. Seeing how the Fentons reacted to Phantom, they obviously didn't know; as for Jazz, maybe, just maybe..."Ugh! When he wakes up, he's dead meat!"

But underneath all that hatred for Danny's ghostly alter ego, Valerie was disgusted and horrified at herself. She could clearly remember Phantom saying as if it were a mantra, 'I'm not the bad guy, I'm the good guy', in all shapes and forms. Danny was so sweet to her ('It could be just a trick to get to you!'), was so klutzy and shy and cute and absolutely good, that he very well...could've been telling the truth, and she had been shooting at a hero for the entire time, all the while thinking that he was just like the rest of them: evil. And she thought that her life was complicated; what has he gone through all this time? "I...what...?"

She shot at him, she denounced his ways of heroism ('Lies!! Lies!!'), and she knew for a fact that he has yet to do any lasting damage to herself, while she's blasted many a injury onto his skin. Valerie turned towards the still boy, and gingerly place a hand onto his chest, wincing as he winced as well. Blood seeped through to her fingertips, and she heart dropped like the ball on New Year's Eve as all the facts came crashing down; what has she done to the boy that she loved?! "...d...Danny!"

His eyes fluttered, and he was shocked at the sight. His unrequited love was on all fours, sobbing loudly as she clutched her chest, yelling out apology upon apology. "Valerie?"

"O-Oh god, I'm so sorry, D-Danny..."

--

"So...when did you find out?"

"You changed back to a human after he let off all those bombs."

"Ah."

The two were seated on a park bench, 32 minutes and 49 seconds after Danny's secret was made known to her eyes. 13 minutes 25 seconds after he had awoken, 13 minutes 25 seconds after he finally managed to calm the girl down. Valerie stared into his sky blue eyes, and could see how easily those bright, carefree eyes could change into mischievous, wizened green; she did know somewhat before the incident, if not pure suspicion, and now it was fact. "How...were you born like this, or..."

Danny sighed, arching his back as he lowered his face to his knees. "Six months ago, my parents had finally completed the Ghost Portal, and I poked around inside...and accidentally turned it on."

Silence for a moment as that knowledge sank into her mind, as she heard herself gasp, watched as her hand reached out for his. Surprisingly, he reached back. "B-But that...so much energy, that could've killed you, Danny!"

"It did, in a way, I think." He smiled faintly, elaborating, "A theory is that I half-died, and that because I'm still part human, I can go into ghost mode at will, powers and all. Also...it's possible that the ectoplasm fused with my cells or something, making that possible too."

Valerie nodded, then looked away, unable to bear the shame of her actions anymore. "Does anyone else know?"

"Tucker and Sam; they were there at the accident. Also, I think that Jazz may know, but I'm not too sure..."

"Your parents?"

"I plan on not telling them; if the ghosts found out and tried to use them against me..." Even though her gaze was directed towards their fading shadows, she could see how his sky blue eyes would fade to ash, marred by guilt, marred by fear. "I would never forgive myself."

She smirked inside herself; that was the same thing she thought about him. Oh fate, how manipulative you can be. "And you knew about me...?"

"From the beginning; I'm sorry about that still, a-and that dog wasn't mi-"

Valerie cut him off by making eye contact, hers filling with tears. "It's ok, Danny; now that it's out in the open, I believe you. Still...why?"

"Why what?"

"Why don't you hate me?!" Her voice rose back to her previous ranting, tears spilling over her cheeks down to her shirt. She cringed, then stood up, yelling with her internal agony vibrating in every syllable, "I've hunted you for so long, tried to kill you even! And all those attacks that hit...I'm no better than the ghosts you hunt." Once so livid and proud was now soft and resigned, and she whispered, "If I were you, I'd hate me too."

"Now wait just a minute." There it was, Phantom's persona breaking through into Fenton's. He was on his feet, his left arm on her shaking shoulder, his right on her chin, holding it up so teal could meet with glowing blue. "I don't hate you, Val. I know that you thought you were doing good-and you are, don't get me wrong-and I care too much for something like that."

She nodded, relaxing into his touch. "So...where does this leave us, Danny? It's all so confusing..."

"I don't know, but I know this:" He showed her instead, a chaste kiss to the cheek, making her face go brought-to-you-by-Crayola red. "I think that you're really cool, and I don't just wanna be friends. I-Is that ok with you?"

She decided to show him her answer. At this he would've replied with a positive reaction, but his lips were suddenly very, very busy.

**--**

**needless to say, i am a huge ****danny****-****valerie**** fan ****XD**


End file.
